Watanabe, a Ramen Shop in Takadanobaba
I went to Watanabe, a famous ramen shop in Takadanobaba, one of Tokyo’s three big ramen battlegrounds. I was in the area on an errand at a wine shop nearby, and on the way back, while wondering what to e…
I went to Watanabe, a famous ramen shop in Takadanobaba, one of Tokyo’s three big ramen battlegrounds. I was in the area on an errand at a wine shop nearby, and on the way back, while wondering what to e…
There’s a miso ramen shop in Ginza that isn’t widely known yet but has been getting popular lately, so I went to check it out. It’s called Ginza, but administratively it’s actually Kyob…
Lately I’ve been totally hooked on niboshi ramen, the kind made with dried sardines. I heard there was a niboshi ramen specialist not too far from Shinjuku, so I went to check it out. Niboshi ramen, the …
Near Shinjuku’s West Exit there’s a little alley lined with skewer joints called Omoide Yokocho. The area has always had a certain vibe, so apart from tourists and older guys, not many people drop …
Tamaru is a ramen shop you won’t find in any guidebook. A local recommended it to me, so I went to check it out. The front It’s small. It turned out to be right across from Zuyurumen Ikeda. The 75…
Ryogoku is famous as the home of the Kokugikan, the sumo arena. Lately I’ve been wandering around different parts of Tokyo at night, to learn my way around. There are still a lot of places I don’t …
I went to Higomons, a Kumamoto ramen shop and the seventh and last ramen place at Shinatatsu. Kumamoto is a place name in Kyushu. Of all the regional ramen styles, the first one to make it to Shinjuku was Keik…
My tour of the ramen shops at Shinatatsu is now past the halfway mark. This time it’s Asahikawa Ramen Saijo, from Asahikawa in Hokkaido. The place is known for its “legendary” shio ramen. The…
Tsukemen Tetsu is a ramen shop in Shinatatsu, Shinagawa. My office is nearby, so I’ve had plenty of chances to drop by Shinatatsu, and this place always had the longest line, which kept nagging at me. Th…
This is another one of Tokyo’s famous ramen shops. It became popular with a very unusual concept: kuro miso (black miso) ramen. It shows up on TV and in magazines all the time. Recently they also opened …
Hakata Tenjin is a popular ramen shop that’s been opening branches all over the city at a crazy pace lately. There seem to be more than a dozen of them already. It focuses on busy neighborhoods like Ikeb…
On the way back from my trip to Kamakura, I stopped by Yoshimuraya, said to be the originator of Yokohama iekei ramen. I almost never have a reason to go to Yokohama, so I figured if I didn’t go on a tri…